As expected, when Haida finally woke up the next day, he was met with a splitting headache thanks to a massive hangover.

Unfortunately, it also didn't help that his bed was perpendicular to the window, and he just so happened to wake up on the side where he'd get a full view of the sun poking through the blinds.

With a groan, Haida quickly shut his eyes tight, pressing his hands up against his head in a futile attempt to relieve the pain in his temples.

As much as Haida wanted to just go back to sleep and wake up again when everything wasn't so bright, he knew that he was probably going to end up getting some concerned texts from Retsuko (and maybe Fenneko) about why he wasn't speaking, so he reluctantly pulled himself out of bed.

As he scratched at an itch that he had on his back, he mentally thanked whoever was watching from above that he'd had the forethought to save his "blackout drunk days" for the weekend, as he'd frankly hate having to go to work feeling like he was today.

His mind still in a haze, Haida trudged his way to the bathroom, undressing and briefly considering whether to put his shirt in the washer or simply burn it considering how ugly looking the stain on it was.

He eventually decided to toss it in the bin, and after taking a quick shower to wake up more, he pulled on his normal casual wear of jeans and a red and black striped shirt, the hyena deciding to save the jacket for once he went out considering it was kind of stuffy in the room.

Unfortunately, it wasn't until he was fully dressed that he realized that he didn't have any real plans for today.

He'd already dressed for going out, so he couldn't just chill in his apartment for the day. Plus, there was the whole lack of air conditioning thing, too.

So, without any real options on where to go at this time of day, he decided that he was going to give Retsuko a call. Maybe she might be up for something.

The only problem, though, was finding his phone.

Haida racked his brain trying to remember what happened last night (which sure didn't help his headache), hoping to pick out any moments when he may have pulled his phone out.

Nothing seemed to come to mind, though, so he was glad that at least he'd most likely not forgotten it there.

He'd also managed to stay upright during his trek home, so he couldn't think of any point where it could have fallen out, so the only place he could think of would be in the apartment with him.

So, Haida quickly went to work, searching high and low through his apartment for his phone.

Luckily, he'd managed to find it on the floor next to his bed, and as he picked it up and checked for any damage from the impact, he could find none.

"Good thing I listened to Fenneko. This phone case is doing wonders." he said to himself, flipping his phone over and looking at the customized hyena stamp on the case before flipping it again and turning the screen on.

Haida absentmindedly dialed Retsuko's number, the hyena having dialed the number enough times to learn it by heart without even needing to use the address book.

The phone only needed to ring twice before Retsuko picked up on the other end.

"Hey, Haida!" she said. "How are you feeling? Fenneko told me about how much you were drinking last night."

"Of course she did." said Haida under his breath before finally addressing the red panda. "Could be better. Woke up with a raging hangover, but I took a shower and I'm feeling better."

"That's good to hear."

"Oh! By the way, what do you think about doing some karaoke sometime today? I'm sure we could both use some time to vent after the week we've had."

Haida waited, expecting for her to quickly agree, but surprisingly it didn't go exactly the way he'd thought.

"I'd love to, Haida, but I'm a little busy right now. I'm free this evening, though, if you're still interested."

"O-of course! I'd l-love to!" said Haida quickly, his emotional swings causing him to stumble over his words a bit.

"It's a date, then." said Retsuko, smiling even though Haida couldn't see it from his end.

Haida was nearly rendered speechless at the mention of a date, his nervous tendencies starting to creep in. Just as Retsuko was about to hang up, though, Haida managed to pull himself together fast enough to speak up.

"Retsuko, wait!"

"What? What's going on?" asked Retsuko, confusion in her voice.

"Um, if you don't mind my asking, what's got you held up that you're not going to be free until this evening?"

Retsuko paused, slightly caught off guard by the simple question.

"Oh, um…I don't mind. I'm actually standing outside the Department of Motor Vehicles. I've got a driver's ed class starting in about ten minutes or so."

It took a few seconds to register in Haida's still sleep-deprived mind, but when it clicked, he couldn't help but be surprised.

"Wait, you're trying to get your driver's license?"

"Yeah, I am. Something wrong with that?" she asked, slightly miffed.

"No, of course not!" said Haida quickly, not wanting to upset Retsuko. "I'm just surprised. Not too many people in this city actually bothered trying to get their licenses considering how hard it is to get anywhere."

Retsuko didn't answer immediately, as she was busy thinking about what Haida said.

"Don't get me wrong, though." said Haida, nervous as he was beginning to think he'd said something bad. "It's really cool that you're going through with this. I'm rooting for you. Heck, maybe we can treat our date as a bit of a celebration for your first successful class."

"Hmm, that actually sounds pretty good." said Retsuko.

"That's good!" said Haida, the pit in his stomach disappearing as the relief set in. "Glad to hear you agree."

"Listen, I should really get going. I don't want to be late." said Retsuko, looking up at the clock hanging above the building and realizing what time it was.

"Oh, right." said Haida. "See you tonight, Retsuko."

"See ya." said Retsuko before the line went dead.

Despite his failure to get to spend time with Retsuko in the morning, Haida couldn't help but smile, thinking that stuff like what she's doing now is just part of what makes her such an irresistible person, and he was frankly glad that he'd managed to confess his feelings to her all those months ago.

Unfortunately, with Retsuko unavailable, Haida still didn't have anyone to spend time with today, and as much as he didn't want to seem clingy, Fenneko was the only one besides Retsuko who was actually willing to spend time with him outside of the area between work and the bar.

As he thought, he quickly realized that he could also ask her about where she went last night. Despite the alcohol-induced stupor he was in then, he was still pretty curious as to what she was doing.

However, as he pulled up his phone to send a text, Haida was only able to hit one button before the screen suddenly went black, a low battery signal blinking on and off for few seconds before the screen went black once more.

"Oh come on!" shouted Haida, resisting the urge to fling his phone across the room due to his annoyance at being denied a chance to talk to Fenneko.

Instead, with a heavy sigh, Haida walked over and plugged his phone into his charger, sitting down in a nearby chair with a huff as he realized that most of the battery drained while he was sleeping off the booze last night.

As much as he wanted to head out and at least do something, it was very easy to get lost in the streets of Tokyo unless you had a plan as to where you were going, and frankly Haida did not have one, so he now had some time to kill while waiting for his phone to recharge.

Unfortunately, with his mediocre salary yet to lead to being able to purchase a TV, his options on finding something to do were limited.

"Well, there goes my morning." he said to himself with a huff.

Walking over to where his bass guitar sat, Haida disconnected the instrument from his amp and headed back to his seat, letting his mind wander while he plucked at the strings aimlessly.

While Haida wiled away the hours in his apartment, Retsuko was in the middle of her first driver's ed class, trying to pay attention as the instructor discussed the parts of a basic traffic light.

Unfortunately for her, a lot of what the instructor discussed was obvious even for her, so it was a bit of a struggle to keep focused. Luckily, she was sitting near the back of the room, so no one was really paying much attention to her.

So, since she never really got a chance to actually meet her classmates in person, considering she had to rush in to not be late, she decided to take a look around the room.

As the instructor droned on about how to make a car move forwards and backwards, Retsuko scanned the back of the heads of the others that she could see, and she couldn't help but be impressed at the variety. She could even see someone that she thought she recognized, if the light fawn fur, brown stripes and short ears were any indication.

However, before Retsuko could try and get a better look at him to verify if her suspicions were correct, her eyes were drawn to the desk next to him, where there appeared to be a pile of clothes sitting on top.

Puzzled, Retusko subtly leaned over to be able to see beneath the line of desks, and although in hindsight it seemed a little silly, she was actually a little surprised to find a pair of tan slacks attached to the pile of clothes, a thin purple tail with a blue tuft on the end poking out of the top.

Although her question about what was sitting there was answered, this still left another question as to what he or she was doing, but thankfully that concern was also quickly put away when Retsuko noticed the top half rising and falling.

"Oh, of course. They're sleeping." she thought. "I'm surprised that no one else is asleep right now."

Lightly shaking her head in amusement, Retsuko returned her focus to the instructor in front of her, having run out of things to do to keep herself occupied.

Later, once the class let out, Retsuko decided to take a seat on one of the benches near the front of the building, wanting to take a moment to rest after the long hour she spent sitting in those uncomfortable desks.

With a light sigh, Retsuko leaned back against the cushioned seat, taking in the sights and keeping some of the important parts of the building in mind, as she knew that she was going to be spending a lot of time in here once the testing started.

However, just as her eyes landed on the receptionist, who was a female dog who looked like she was barely out of school, she could sense someone sitting down next to her.

Looking over, she was quite surprised to find the same classmate that was sleeping through their class, his hoodie zipped up and his hood almost completely covering his head. The only thing she could really see all that well was his snout, which was the same color as his tail.

"Um…can I help you?" said Retsuko a little timidly, as she watched the male stare into the distance just like she was not too long ago.

It took a few seconds, but Retsuko could see a little twitch in his features as he realized he was being spoken to.

After a surprisingly robust yawn, he looked down at Retsuko and smiled.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I invade your personal space accidentally?"

"Oh no, it's just that I didn't expect to see someone else here sitting next to me. I figured most of the people in the class would have wanted to leave right after it was finished."

"Oh, believe me, he's not like that."

Retsuko's attention was pulled away from the stranger to find that it was the receptionist who spoke up, her younger voice confirming Retsuko's suspicions about her age.

"He's failed this class so many times, I'm surprised he isn't living here by now." she said, continuing.

"Come on now, I've got better things to do than spend all my time here." said the male, his tone still as casual as ever despite the receptionist's words.

As Retsuko looked back over at him, the male finally removed his hood, revealing long purple ears with blue tips.

"I don't think we've officially met, by the way. My name's Tadano." he said, still smiling.

Retsuko was admittedly a little unsure if she wanted to be so open with someone she barely knew, but her mom's words about getting out more and socializing with more people ran through her head, and she decided that if she was going to be spending time with him every week in class, there was no real reason not to go along with things.

"Mine's Retsuko. Nice to meet you."

"Wow, that's a nice name." he said.

"Thanks." she said, smiling.

"Do you mind if I call you Retsy?"

Retsuko's eyes widened, not expecting this question.

"Uh, why's that?" she asked.

"No reason, really. I just like giving people nicknames."

Although still a little puzzled, she figured that it was harmless enough.

"Okay, I don't mind."

"Great!"

Tadano then hopped off out of his seat as he turned towards Retsuko.

"Listen, I should really get going. It was nice meeting you, Retsy."

"You too." said Retsuko.

As Retsuko watched Tadano disappear through the doorway and back into the streets, she couldn't really figure out what to make of the guy.

"Don't mind him." said the receptionist, a small smile on her face as she looked over at Retsuko. "He's like that a lot."

"Really? Well, what do you think about him?" asked Retsuko, genuinely curious.

"Me? Well, he's definitely smart, but super lazy. It's nice to see him, but I think he's wasting his money trying so many times."

"Where does he even work?"

"I don't know." said the receptionist. "He never really talks about his normal life. Frankly, I'm wondering if he even has a job."

Retsuko fell silent, puzzled by the enigma that was Tadano. However, before she could really get to thinking, she took a look outside and panicked when she realized that the sun was setting.

"Oh, shoot! I have to go!"

Without even waiting for an answer, Retsuko shot out of the door, leaving a confused receptionist in her wake.

"Wonder what she was in such a rush about?" she said to herself.

She knew that she wasn't really going to get an answer, so she simply shook her head in bemusement before returning to work, hoping to get her last report done soon so she could head home.